Polish spooks warned of 1999 attack on USS Cole

The USS Cole was rammed by an explosives-packed boat in an al Qa'ida operation in 1999, according to the Miami Herald.

It gets even better:

In late 1999, two years before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people, a group of Afghan agents loyal to an anti-Taliban guerrilla leader proposed assassinating Osama bin Laden. All they wanted was the $5 million reward the Clinton administration had offered for bin Laden’s capture, says a former Polish spy who was the Afghans’ go-between on the plot. 

The CIA rejected the plan, however, saying, "We do not have a license to kill."

H/t: Armies of Liberation